1 <60
2 ≥60 & <68
3 ≥68 & <76
4 ≥76 & <85
5 ≥85
6 no data
1 <23
2 ≥23 & <26
3 ≥26 & <30
4 ≥30 & <34
5 ≥34
6 no data

Women's Literacy

What does it mean ?

The adult female literacy rate is the percentage of women aged 15 and above who can, with understanding, read and write a short, simple statement.

Why does it matter ?

Improving literacy and education for women not only leads to improved health and livelihood outcomes for the woman herself and her family, but has a positive impact on a nation's economy and development. The 4th Sustainable Development Goal is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning, with one of the stated targets being "by 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy."

How is it collected ?

Data on literacy is gathered from large scale, nationally representative surveys such as Demographic and Health (DHS) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), other national surveys and censuses.

UNESCO Institute for Statistics (June 2016 Release) based on data for 1999 - 2015 http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?queryid=166

Unmet Need for Family Planning

What does it mean ?

This indicator is the percentage of women aged 15-49 (of reproductive age) in marital or consensual unions who do not want any more children or want to delay the birth of their next child for at least two years, but are not using contraception.

Why does it matter ?

Women who are able to practice family planning do better in terms of their socio-economic status, education, empowerment and health. The percentage of women who have an unmet need for family planning can tell us about the reach and quality of a country's healthcare system.

How is it collected ?

A national survey was undertaken in each country from a representative sample of households where women were asked if they would like more children, or to wait to become pregnant again, or have they finished childbearing. Those that could conceive were asked if they used contraception. A woman had an unmet need for contraception if she did not want any more children or wanted to delay her next birth for at least two years, but was not using contraception.

Millenium Development Goals Indicators, United Nations Statistics Division, http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Data.aspx UN STATS Millenium Development Indicator Database 2014 (most recent data 1996 – 2014)